Letters from the Past

Have you ever seen the tv show ' If Walls Could Talk'
it's about people who buy houses and find things left by previous
owners. I received a phone call the other day. About meeting some
people about a former Holdingford businessman at the turn of the 19th
century. It turns out a gentleman by the name of Thomas Betz and his
wife were in town and they had a wonderful story to tell.
A friend of theirs had bought a house in Detroit Lakes,
Mn. After buying it, they were in the process of reroofing the
house. They came across a compartment apparently not assessable from
the house. A box that had over 200 letters in it.
Mr. Betz was given these letters. Being a person who cares
about preserving the past carefully, opened, flattened them placing
them under archival folders.
Now it gets really interesting. The letters were from a
Halvor Langslet to his fiancee. Written over a period of several
years. from about 1908 to 1912. Halvor had come to town working on
the railroad and opened up a general merchandise store with another
gentleman by the name of Vincent Klisch. I so far have just been
able to do a quick survey of them so far. They tell about the time.
Mr. Betz is graciously going to get us copies of the letters with a
little horsetrading of photos on our part. A real wonderful resource.
I am waiting anxiously to read them all.

New Old Map of Minnesota

We got a new map of old Minnesota. Brought in by one of our residents. It shows the state of Minnesota by township, rail roads and state highways of the time. no date but the company that made the map was in business under that name between 1922-28. Which fits the roads shown on the map.

The cemeterys

There has been a inquiry as to the number of cemeterys and when they
started. As far as I can figure out
1892 Highland Cemetery started, this is actually two plots of land
parallel to each, one belonged to Union Evangelical Church Holding,
the other the Slovak Lutheran Church.
1896 St. Mary's Cemetery started, German Roman Catholic
1947 St. Hedwig's Cemetery started, Polish Roman Catholic
I also understand there was another cemetery called ' Willow Creek'
supposed to be located north of town but I haven't figured out where
yet. As I understand it no longer exists.

The Holdingford Advertiser and Stearns-Morrison Enterprise

One way to find out more about the history of Holdingford is to get the 'Stearns-Morrison Enterprise' newspaper.  A weekly paper published in Albany. There is a column called 'Way Back When' that writes about tidbits about people and items of interest from various time periods. 

A way back when comment of my own. In 1909 the Albany paper wasn't supported enough in Albany and the paper was printed as part of the " Holdingford Advertiser"  now a days the reverse is true.

mike.council@holdingfordmn.us

Holy Myrrh-bearers Orthodox Church

There was once a Orthodox Church near Holdingford, just northeast of town. It was established in 1895. To learn more about this I suggest you use this link to find out more. Holy Myrrh-bearers Orthodox Church

Valentine Herman Dies

Valentine Herman, was a very influentual member of the community. He was 66 years old when he died June 15th 1936.After being in poor health for a number of months.

Helping out folks

I have not been adding to this blog this summer as . IT'S SUMMER! But
when I got a call the other day from a gentleman from Illinois, who had
been directed to me by our Mayor. He was looking for, I am assuming a
relative who died in 1934 and buried he thought in Holdingford. Indeed
he was. It gave me pleasure to be able to help him out. I also found
out he had a blacksmith shop in town, was a mechanic and served on the
city council for a number of years.

The Hospital

I finally came across a picture of the Holdingford Hospital. Click on the photo you will able to read the article.

Electric power plant

Holdingford's First and only Electric power plant, was started by Val Herman in 1915. It was a diesel powered generator creating electricity stored in batteries. Starting in 1919 power was supplied by the St. Cloud Water & Power Co. and in 1927 NSP obtained the power rights.
In the picture Frank Wrobel is standing to the left of the door. I don't know who the other people were. I've heard there was a butcher shop there in later years.And there was a laundramat there until 2000 not sure when that started yet. It's now for sale. Maybe make a neat place for a Historical Society ?

Recovery of Newspapers

Some good news, we are aquiring all the bound copies of the 'Holdingford Recorder' which turned into the 'Holdingford Herald Newspapers', until it was purschased by the Stearns-morrison Newspapers. They will be under the protection of the City of Holdingford. Someday I hope to see a historical society started in town. There is a rich local history here.